Sooner Softball No. 1 In The Nation

The University of Oklahoma softball team earned every first-place vote on Tuesday to sit atop college softball as the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation. The honor comes one week after the team became the first No. 1 consensus team in the program’s history.

With a 27-1 record, the Sooners received all 31 first-place votes in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll for the second week in a row and all 20 votes in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25. Last week, OU had 18 of the 20 votes in the USA Softball Poll.

Oklahoma has now been ranked No. 1 by USA Softball for six straight weeks, while the NFCA has put the Sooners on top for two weeks in a row.

The team is riding a 10-game winning streak, including seven straight wins via shutout to tie a school record. The pitching staff’s current scoreless streak sits at 40 innings dating back to March 8.

OU was a perfect 5-0 at the Judi Garman Classic last weekend, winning those games by a combined score of 33-0. Three of the victories came via run-rule,while the weekend was highlighted by a 4-0 defeat of No. 14/19 Arizona.

As a team, the Sooners lead Division I with a .964 winning percentage and a 0.67 earned run average. The next closest ERA belongs to Baylor at 1.25.

Individually, sophomore Lauren Chamberlain has a nation’s best batting average at .507, and she also leads the country with 16 home runs, 1.57 runs scored per game and a 1.282 slugging percentage.

In the circle, senior pitchers Michelle Gascoigne and Keilani Ricketts rank first and second in the nation with ERAs of 0.59 and 0.72, respectively.

Oklahoma returns home this weekend to face No. 11/11 Louisville (23-4). Saturday features a doubleheader that starts at 2 p.m., while Sunday’s finale is scheduled for noon.